The Wrath of Pan (The Inglewood Chronicles Book 2)

by Jeremy Croston

  Smiling, “I’ve been practicing that new age meditation crap. It actually seems to be working.”

  “And you did not believe me!” Yeah, the meditation had been her idea.

  Believe it or not, over the years I had trained myself as best I could to keep my senses under control in certain situations. Liz had seen my struggles firsthand a few times and when we got to Phoenix recommended meditation. At first I passed it off as hippie crap, but even I couldn’t deny the results after a few sessions.

  “It’s not that I didn’t believe you, as you probably invented meditation, I just thought it was weird.”

  The evil eye made its daily appearance. “Just because I’m over a thousand years old does not mean I invented everything!”

  Were age related jokes mean? Yes, yes they were. But I also knew it drove her nuts that she had fallen for someone like me, especially when most vampires at her age tended to have ‘partners’ of equal age.

  Not wanting to push it much further, I admitted, “I know and I’m really lucky to have you in my life.”

  It took a second, but the death stare went away, replaced by a smile. “As am I Victor. You certainly have brought a different energy back to all of us here.”

  “Well, let’s use this energy to find Vincente Divas and put an end to his crazy schemes.”

  Chapter 3

  I’d fallen asleep on my couch. I was so tired when I got back to my apartment that I crashed hard. I looked over at the clock on the wall and saw it was four-thirty in the afternoon. Working for a vampire really messes with your sleeping cycle.

  The smell of fresh coffee is what actually woke me up. I shook off the cobwebs and headed into the kitchen. Waiting ever patiently for me was my girl.

  “You must have been tired. When I entered two hours ago, no matter how hard I tried to wake you, I was not successful.”

  I poured myself a cup of joe and sat down. “It was a long night. You try being in a car with Reno that long.”

  Liz rolled her eyes. “Please tell me he did not complain the entire evening?”

  “I brought him a crossword to do and yet he still found time to bitch. At least he’s good in tough situations.”

  “That he is.” Her eyes went back to the paper sitting on the table. The front page was talking about some sort of freak snowstorm hitting the northeast part of the country. “The warehouse has been purged.”

  I acknowledged that I heard. It sucked so many innocent lives had to be lost because someone wanted to make the perfect drug.

  I took a few minutes to go over my thoughts from the previous night. I was still pretty upset Divas had gotten away. “Since we smoked him out of his club, what’s the next step boss lady?”

  Looking up from the paper, she reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a business card. She slid it over to me to read.

  Picking it up, “Lucky Dumont, tax consultant? Who the hell is that?”

  “Lucky, real name Lucerne, is another moderately old vampire who has taken up residence in the Phoenix area. He is a fence who specializes in rare and exotic treasures. I tolerate his presence because he gives me reliable information.”

  “You got a criminal informant?” I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. That didn’t seem like Liz’s game.

  “Reluctantly, but I am glad I do. Divas contacted him after your encounter to help him flee the country. Lucky is following through with it on my orders.”

  Pushing the card back, “Obviously you’ve got a plan in mind.”

  “Of course I do. Divas will be a passenger on a cargo truck going to Mexico tonight. He will be in for a very unpleasant ride.”

  I sighed. I knew exactly what that meant. “Do we have to take my car?”

  “We are certainly not taking one of mine!” Liz owned an expensive fleet of European cars. “Your Mustang is perfectly capable of the task.”

  “I just had it detailed…”

  “I will have it professionally cleaned for you afterwards. Get something to eat; you are whiny when you are hungry. Meet me upstairs in an hour; Reno and Ruud should be awake by then as well.”

  Just like that, my complaints to the situation had been shot down. After giving me a kiss, Liz headed back to her office and left me to my own devices. Upon opening my fridge, I realized I was seriously low on food again. Fortunately, I had a couple of burgers I could reheat.

  While I was eating, my mind turned its attention to the upcoming trip to England. My experiences leaving the country were a drunken weekend in college to Mexico. This would be a whole new adventure. Plus I would get to finally meet this Roderick character and Liz’s brother Jonathan.

  Let me tell you all about Liz’s dysfunctional family. She was a born vampire, not made. It doesn’t happen that often and she’s one of the oldest ones still around. Liz’s mom apparently had a thing for younger human men and went about creating her own vampire boy toys. Two of them got close to Liz and became like brothers; Cristof the head of the America coven and Jonathan.

  Not that my family was a whole lot better. I’m from the Red wolf pack here in New Mexico. My dad, Callum, is the Alpha of the pack and for the longest time I was the Omega. Being the son of the Alpha and not being able to transform wasn’t the easiest of situations.

  At least I’m no longer the Omega. One of my loudmouth cousins, Kano, spoke up at a pack meeting and challenged me. Thanks to an unlikely blood transfusion from Liz, I had the cojones to put him in his place.

  Kano apparently didn’t like that and fled town. My dad had no idea where he went, nor did he really care. Once branded an Omega, that stigmatism follows you. I know that personally.

  Finishing up my burgers and deciding a shower would be good, I started to get ready for another long evening. I also wanted to check all my weapons, I figured I would need each of them tonight.

  I took my time and made sure I was ready for the adventures coming my way. It was about five-twenty when I left and took the elevator up. Roscoe was cleaned and ready to go and the silver tanto was as sharp as ever. Divas wouldn’t get away from me this time.

  When I entered Liz’s office, Phil and Reno were already there. Liz motioned me over to the desk. “Good timing Vic, I was catching these two up on Lucky’s escape plan for Divas.”

  There was a state map of Arizona on her desk. “I take it the path outlined in red is it?”

  “Correct, they are going to be sticking to the back roads that wind through the desert. If we can get a head of them and ambush them here,” she pointed to the town of Nogales, “that would work the best.”

  I could see her point. If Divas got into Mexico, it would be all over but the crying. “Cutting it a little close to the border though, aren’t we boss?”

  “Lucky’s men will be sticking close to the Coronado Park out there. That does not offer us much cover, but the closer to the town we are, the more likely we are to find success.”

  It was a solid plan, but I hated cutting it so close. “Do we have an ETA of when they will be there?”

  “They will be leaving Phoenix at nine on the button. Lucky keeps to a very strict schedule. He said to expect them at eleven-thirty.”

  Reno had an idea. “Why don’t Phil and I leave soon so we can scout a good place to set up shop?”

  Liz looked at me and I shrugged. I didn’t think it was a half bad idea. “It wouldn’t hurt to do that Liz.”

  “Take the surveillance van and use the utmost of caution. Sunset is in an hour or so. Wait until then to embark.”

  Reno grabbed the keys from one of the desk drawers. “When we find a place, we’ll call you.”

  “You won’t get bored waiting will you Reno?”

  He lowered his sunglasses, “Of course not; Phil is a much better companion. He actually knows the answers to a lot of the crossword puzzles.”

  Not even giving me a chance to fire back, the two of them left. It didn’t matter, I couldn’t argue his point. I might know a lot of useless pop culture references bu
t when it came to the kinda crap they ask on a crossword, I’m useless. I did manage to give Reno the finger when he turned around, probably to do the same to me.

  “Boys…”

  My attention turned back to Liz. “What’s wrong with us?” I couldn’t even keep a straight face as I asked.

  “One would assume over the thousands of years your species has been on this world, you would evolve. That is not the case; men have always been exactly the same.”

  “At least we’re consistent unlike women.”

  You’d think I’d learn to keep my mouth shut. Liz’s eyes flared and in a low yet dangerous voice, “Are you implying something Victor?”

  I felt my face go red, “Of course not, there’re exceptions to every rule and I think you fall under that.”

  “I am relieved to hear I am an ‘exception.’ It would have been an awful situation tonight if some friendly fire was to go astray.”

  I didn’t know if she was joking or not, so I quickly changed the subject back to this evening’s plan with Divas. Her expression eventually softened but somewhere in the back of my mind I made a very important reminder, never piss her off.

  Chapter 4

  Reno and Phil had found a nice little spot right outside the border town of Nogales for us to hide. The road had a decent curve to it and there was a billboard that provided plenty of shadows. I was leaning up against the hood of the Mustang. Something told me before this night was over, we’d be going on a little ride through the desert.

  The faint sounds of a large vehicle became audible. Looking down at my watch, it read eleven-thirteen. “I think our cargo truck is right on schedule.”

  Reno grabbed a pair of binoculars and like a bug, quickly climbed up to the catwalk of the billboard. “I got headlights coming this way.”

  Both Phil and I looked at Liz. “Should we get into position?”

  “Yes, Phil, move the van and block the road. Vic, get the Mustang ready. If Reno cannot successfully disable their vehicle, we will have to take pursuit.”

  Up on the catwalk above us, Reno was putting together a sniper rifle. Where he got that, I had no idea. Plus, who knew if he could even shoot the thing.

  “Are you sure it’s safe for him to be firing that gun?”

  Phil answered, “He might not seem like it, but Reno takes his job very seriously. He will be successful.”

  “Good to hear big guy.” I gave Phil a pat on the back and went to the car. The road noise from the cargo truck was getting louder.

  Phil pulled the van into the road. It would only be a matter of moments before this party got started. The engine of the Mustang came to life. Watching closely, the cargo truck came into view.

  “They’re not slowing down. They wouldn’t ram the van, would they?”

  Liz didn’t respond; she was too busy watching the scene unfold. The cargo truck blew its horn, but Phil was already out of the van. It started to speed up and at the last moment, swerved out into the desert. I thought for sure it was going to tip over, but the driver kept control and brought the cargo truck back on to the road.

  A gunshot echoed through the night. I knew it was Reno and I hoped he was able to make contact. I pulled the Mustang out on to the road and took off in pursuit. As soon as the wheels hit the pavement, I picked up the smell of gasoline.

  “I think Reno hit their gas tank!”

  Liz stretched out and looked to the road. “I see a trail of liquid on the road.”

  “Son of a bitch, I owe that guy an apology.”

  Before I could do that, we needed to catch this truck and get Divas. Even though it was losing gas, the driver was pushing it hard. We raced through Nogales and soon were on the south side.

  “We need to stop them Vic, we are almost to the Mexican border!”

  The Mustang had closed the gap nicely, but the truck was too big to run off the road. “I think they are starting to slow down.”

  “I don’t think they will run out in time though.”

  She was right. “Get me Roscoe.”

  She reached into the glove box and pulled out my gun. Handing it to me, “Take the wheel. I might have a shot.”

  “Are you sure?”

  I rolled the window down and Liz grabbed on to the wheel. I had to hold on while it bucked before she got in under control. Lining up my shot, I fired. The bullet made impact with the back wheel and the truck ran off the road, tumbling into the desert.

  I slammed on the breaks and brought us to a stop. “Let’s go catch us a drug dealer, shall we?”

  We hurried out of the car and went over to where the truck had come to a stop. Smoke and debris was everywhere, as were two dead humans.

  “That bastard used humans for this job?” I was expecting vampires to be here. If I’d known her contact used humans to do this, I’d never have taken the shot.

  Liz walked over to the corpses. “It would seem after this is over, my friend Lucky will need a reminder in proper protocol. His callous disregard for human life has gone too far.”

  There was no more time to talk about that. Vincente Divas wasn’t here. “The smell of his cologne goes that way.” I pointed off to the west. I saw a sign to a campground called Great Sal’s Amazing Outdoors.

  “Let us not keep our prey waiting.” Her eyes flashed red and her fangs began to grow.

  “Yes ma’am. He can’t hide from me.”

  Taking off in the direction of the cologne, we entered the campground. The further along we went, the stronger the smell got.

  “He must be injured; the smell is getting really strong.”

  Liz looked around. “He probably came here to feed. We need to draw him out.”

  “Get down!” I heard the click of the barrel. I grabbed Liz and hit the deck as the bullet passed over us harmlessly. Looking up, the pudgy figure of Vincente Divas was standing there.

  “Elizabeth, what an unexpected pleasure. I would have never guessed you did your own dirty work.” His French accent made his words even more condescending.

  Liz stood up, “That is a laugh coming from you! To see you in such disarray has brought me years of joy.”

  The three of us were in the middle of the campground. I knew the campers had heard the gunshot, so it was only a matter of time before the human police showed up.

  “My dear Elizabeth, why do you waste your time on such unimportant matters like drug addicted humans? Since when has it become illegal to use them as a source of income?”

  Her anger boiled over. “Since the day you decided to mix vampire blood with your precious drugs! You have gone too far and it is time for penance!”

  “It is bad enough you associate with such freaks,” he pointed at me, “but now to defend the humans is a disgrace to our kind! Caesar Alexis and Lord Drakel were right in their thinking!”

  Caesar and Drakel were two of the oldest of old vampires. They wanted to make the humans slaves or something along those lines. Drakel was also Liz’s dad. She personally saw to their deaths in order to keep the peace.

  “Do not speak of things you do not understand! Vampires such as yourself would have been exterminated under their rule you gluttonous fool!”

  The two vampires were staring daggers into each other. I could hear humans making their way over towards us. “Liz we need to take this elsewhere.”

  Divas must’ve heard the movement too and he took off. With no other choice, Liz and I followed. He wasn’t moving all that fast and we caught up to him on the backside of the campground. Liz pushed ahead and rammed him in the back. Divas flew headfirst into a giant, waving Great Sal statue at the exit.

  “It is over Vincente. This is your last chance to surrender.”

  He spat on the ground near Liz. “It amuses me how little you actually know. For someone so old and full of power, you are blind to current events taking place.”

  I pointed Roscoe at his head. “Then why don’t you enlighten us?”

  “Your freak werewolf amuses me. I truly am happy I was able to
watch this dog and pony show up close.”

  Liz stepped forward, “If you do not surrender, I will have no choice but to put you down. What is it going to be?”

  He smiled. “I choose neither option. Long live the Hammer of Jehovah!”

  He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small, polished wooden stake. Before I even had a chance to shoot it out of his hand, he plunged it into his heart. With the sneer still etched on his face, Vincente Divas was dead.

  “You heard it too, did you not Vic?”

  I knew exactly what she was talking about. “Yeah, he said the Hammer of Jehovah.”

  Walking over to where Divas laid, Liz rummaged through his pockets. “Nothing.”

  “Damn, this isn’t good is it?”

  She shook her head. “I am at a loss for words. Let us go back to Phoenix and see if maybe Roderick or Cristof can provide us with any answers.”

  I gave one last look at Divas. Even in death he was mocking us. How did he know about the Hammer of Jehovah and more importantly, what was he doing for him?

  We didn’t talk much on the way back to the office. The way things unfolded down by the border was still quite a shock. With Divas dropping the Hammer of Jehovah name and then taking his own life, we were all a bit on edge. Liz had the expression of someone who saw a ghost.

  Phil and Reno were in the parking garage, waiting for us. Phil helped Liz out of the car. “Everything okay ma’am?”

  “No Phil, it is far from okay. Vincente Divas was connected to the Hammer of Jehovah.”

  It was obvious they weren’t expecting that either. Both of them just looked at us.

  “I am going to my office, I have calls to make. The rest of you, take the evening off. Once I know more, we can convene and go from there.”

  She left the three of us standing there, making her way to the elevator. I looked over at the other two. “The night’s still young; want to come up for a few beers?”

  Chapter 5

  I had too much to drink last night. When my alarm went off at nine, I felt like smashing it to bits. Unfortunately, even if I did, there was another alarm waiting to go off. I could feel her eyes on the back of my head.